Yanmar Secondary Fuel Filter

[Hydraulicjump]

We all share our problems and our fixes. My problem was a leaking secondary fuel filter on the Yanmar 4BY 180 engine. When we did our 250 hour service, the mechanic noted a little bit of fuel on the outside of the secondary fuel filter. Since I had a spare, we swapped it out. I watched as he tightened it by hand as hard as he could (no tools), the way my father taught me to tighten oil filters.

Seemed OK when we tested the boat, but then it began weeping fuel a bit later. Over the phone the mechanic said he had trouble with Yanmar filters before and thought the gasket was suspect. I ordered a replacement and in the meantime, under his instruction, I got a filter wrench and tightened it another 1/3-1/2 turns. Then we left for Bellingham.

When I ran the boat in Bellingham before our two week cruise, it was clearly leaking (nothing like a fuel leak on the day of departure). Fortunately, I noticed a mechanic working on a Ranger Tug nearby and decided to chat him up. Sure enough, he confirmed that the gaskets on the Yanmar secondary fuel filters are sketchy. His advice was to break the rules and crank the filter on as tight as I could without collapsing it.

I did, and it worked. No leaks for the whole two week trip. But I am dreading having to remove the thing someday having cranked it on so hard.

Simple fix, maybe.

Jeff

p.s., we brought the boat back to northern California to go watch the Americas Cup races. I don't know how many of you saw the film clip of Team Oracle making a hard turn upwind in a match race against the other Oracle boat. One of their rudders snapped clean off, broken by the force of the turn. It bobbed up to the surface with a most clear insignia on it saying "Yanmar". Ouch. If you haven't watched this stuff, go to YouTube. For all us former sailors, this is fun stuff.

 

[knotflying]

Interesting about your leak. When I initially changed my secondary filter I had to turn so hard to remove it that I dented the sides on it. I thought the initial installer was a bit over zealous on the day he installed it, but perhaps he was aware of the issue and gave and extra turn on installation. I have not had issues with my replacement.

 

[Don and Brenda]

I had an issues with mine on the Desolation trip, I had just left a marina and was bringing it up to speed with alarms were going off and the engine shut down, a quick check of the engine compartment confirmed diesel fuel all over the place. being in a very undesirable place we quickly dropped the anchor and I called the marina we had just left. We have a great video of us being towed in.
Problem, the gasket blew out on the secondary, it was way over tightened, once we took it off and reseated we were good to go. I gave away a few Ranger tug hats to the crew that towed us in. Word of caution, the gentleman that screwed it back in did not fill the filter all the way up, this led to some interesting moments as the egine started to hickup a few hours later in the middle of the ferry lanes going into Nanaimo with one ferry bearing down on me.

Don

 

[sportner]

We had an engine alarm and squirting diesel from the secondary fuel filter gasket while in Alaska this summer (it had bulged out). I replaced the filter and cranked it down with a filter wrench, no further problems.

 

[Don and Brenda]

That is exactly what mine did was buldge out, after we figured out the probem, fortunately Andrew was available by phone and confirmed just re-install and should be fine, no issues since except the air in the line issue.

 

[abcandjrc]

Our Yanmar had an o-ring to seal the fuel filter so I am not familiar with your setup. One thing that can cause leaks, especially through bulges in oil filters is having a double gasket in place (not a hi-jack, I know the exact subject is different, but it is a potential cause of leaks). It is essential, especially on pressurized filters, to make sure the old gasket comes out before installing the filter.

Probably not your problem since it seems to be a more general problem. But it is a thing to keep in mind when changing oil filters on any engine (OK, you got me, kind of a hi-jack).

 

[LADYBUG TOO]

Same problem on the 6BY2-260 on Ladybug, Too. It left me in Pensacola Bay close to the IC channel. My head was swiveling looking for barges to run over me at any minute. My brother-in-law towed me in with his older Shamrock with a Yanmar 180. We removed the filter and the cast aluminum head and noted corrosion in three places across the gasket seat. On closer inspection we found that the filter threads were not machined square to the seat with a gap of more than 1/16th inch on one side. The head was terminal so we have a new head and filter on the way. The engine was getting air and would not even crank until we bled the system manually, then it would only idle.

Pat & Carolyn, Ladybug, Too

 

[RProffer]

As a side note, I always carry extra fuel filters and o-rings along with a strap wrench and channel lock wrench in case I get some dirty fuel, leaking gasket, or what ever. They do not take much space and you never know ...

 

[LADYBUG TOO]

We are still working on the problem with the secondary filter on our 2009 R-29. The filter head was corroded across the filter gasket so we had to order a new head. The set up on our 6BY2 is not on the Dealer's Parts List CD. Had to take a picture of it and send it to Atlanta. For those of you out there with the same set up, there is a 3/8 inch NPT discharge port on the secondary filter that you can install a 3/8 NPT x tubing barb fitting. We put a clear tube on the barb and fed it into a 5 gallon tank. When the key is turned on the primary electric pump will come on and the air can be purged out of the secondary filter. It is the best 5 bucks you can spend. It took about three gallons to the tank before we got rid of the air. We removed the barb fitting and re-installed the plug and the engine started with no hiccups. The new head has not arrived yet so we polished the old one and are running (close to home) until it arrives. I'll try to post a picture of the set up on our gallery.

Pat & Carolyn, Ladybug, Too